UHS, COMSTECH sign MoU to boost health education, research cooperation across OIC countries

The Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) and the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening collaboration in medical education, research, and capacity building across member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). 

The MoU was signed by UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Ahsan Waheed Rathore and Coordinator General COMSTECH Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary at a ceremony attended by Rector, University of Lahore, Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf,l4 Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Nadia Naseem, Registrar Kiran Fatima, Mr Muhammad Murtaza Noor, and Mr Abdul Haleem Asghar, Dr Midhat Sulman among others.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary said that COMSTECH is committed to strengthening scientific and educational cooperation across 57 OIC member states. Our initiative of 5,000 scholarships for Palestinian students reflects this commitment. There is also a pressing need to improve the quality of nursing in many member countries, particularly in Africa, and we see UHS as a key partner in training human resource in this critical area, he added.

He further said that through this collaboration, we aim to facilitate faculty development, research linkages, and capacity building programmes, while enabling young scholars and professionals to benefit from shared expertise across borders.

UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Ahsan Waheed Rathore welcomed the partnership and said, “This MoU marks an important step towards expanding UHS’s global engagement and contributing to health systems strengthening in brotherly OIC countries. We are ready to develop need-based training programmes, including certificate courses for nurses and midwives, to address workforce gaps in partner countries.”

He further said that UHS will actively collaborate with COMSTECH in launching joint academic initiatives, hosting international researchers, and implementing life-saving training programmes. The translation and international rollout of UHS manuals will further extend our academic outreach.

Under the agreement, both institutions will collaborate on joint academic programmes, research initiatives, and faculty development. Opportunities will be created for foreign PhD scholars to undertake research residencies in UHS laboratories, while faculty training programmes will be facilitated through more than 200 COMSTECH scholarships. 

The two sides also agreed to develop projects for OIC member countries, including the rollout of six mandatory life-saving training courses. UHS training manuals will be translated into Arabic and French and launched in Nigeria.
The MoU envisages broader cooperation in student mobility, joint conferences, telemedicine training, and capacity building in emerging areas of health sciences, with a special focus on supporting African member states.